The Poetry of the Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861-65)
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: English
Abstract
In the 1860s global politics had a profound effect on a local economy when, during the American Civil War, the Union blockaded cotton exports from the Confederacy, and the main raw material of much of Lancashire's industry was cut off at a single stroke. The resulting mass unemployment and welfare crisis has been well documented by historians but the poetic response to this event has never been fully explored. Although nineteenth-century Lancashire poetry, particularly that written in dialect, has been studied by scholars, poetry of the Cotton Famine, including its unique aspects of multiple address and function, and fascinating reactions to the American Civil War and global economics, has received scant critical attention.
Extrapolating from initial research, we estimate that between 900 and 1100 poems of short to moderate length are in existence which relate to the famine. Through newspapers, broadsheets, and published pamphlets, poetry was an important method of social discourse, and its unique forms of address performed functions including petition, consolation, political commentary, reportage, and memorialisation. Common themes include war, slavery, hunger, poverty, prostitution, unemployment, education, charity, alcohol use, and economics.
This project will extend burgeoning recent interest in labouring-class literature by looking at the intersections between literature, regionality, and global politics. Initial research has identified relevant material in contemporary local newspapers, as well as archival material and pamphlets, broadsheets and collections. These full texts, all out of copyright, will form a fully searchable database with accompanying bibliographical information, annotation, essays, and soundfiles. The texts will be organised within the database by locality. For example, Lancastrian towns including Preston, Blackburn, and Burnley will have their own pages, and there will be pages which cover poems with miscellaneous provenance, or poems which were published in abolitionist newspapers in the United States, or poems from contemporary collections. A keyword function will provide full search capability and cross-referencing.
The database will have soundfile capability to include recitations of standard English and dialect poetry (which we estimate comprises about 10% of the total texts) and musical performances of the work where appropriate (a small minority of the material is presented as song and occasionally specifies the accompanying tune). The investigators have already attracted enthusiastic interest from performers including Jennifer Reid and the folk group Faustus. Jennifer Reid will be involved in twelve events aimed at the general public and school-age children across the Lancashire region which will promote the database through presentations, vocal and musical performance, and workshops. Faustus will be commissioned to arrange and record material associated with the project in order to promote the database. The project will also be working closely with Lancashire County Council Heritage Learning to promote the database to teachers in the region and train them how to use it. Schoolchildren will be involved in programmes to search for relevant poetry in their local libraries (many local newspaper archives are held on microfilm), and so to contribute directly to the full-text aspect of the database. This process will be managed and edited by the principal investigator.
The website accompanying the database will include contextual information and essays composed by the principal investigator, co-investigator, and postdoctoral researcher which will be open access and directed towards the general public and scholars. The texts that will form the database will also comprise the basis for scholarly output from the principal investigator, co-investigator, and postdoctoral researcher which will be published in academic journals.
Extrapolating from initial research, we estimate that between 900 and 1100 poems of short to moderate length are in existence which relate to the famine. Through newspapers, broadsheets, and published pamphlets, poetry was an important method of social discourse, and its unique forms of address performed functions including petition, consolation, political commentary, reportage, and memorialisation. Common themes include war, slavery, hunger, poverty, prostitution, unemployment, education, charity, alcohol use, and economics.
This project will extend burgeoning recent interest in labouring-class literature by looking at the intersections between literature, regionality, and global politics. Initial research has identified relevant material in contemporary local newspapers, as well as archival material and pamphlets, broadsheets and collections. These full texts, all out of copyright, will form a fully searchable database with accompanying bibliographical information, annotation, essays, and soundfiles. The texts will be organised within the database by locality. For example, Lancastrian towns including Preston, Blackburn, and Burnley will have their own pages, and there will be pages which cover poems with miscellaneous provenance, or poems which were published in abolitionist newspapers in the United States, or poems from contemporary collections. A keyword function will provide full search capability and cross-referencing.
The database will have soundfile capability to include recitations of standard English and dialect poetry (which we estimate comprises about 10% of the total texts) and musical performances of the work where appropriate (a small minority of the material is presented as song and occasionally specifies the accompanying tune). The investigators have already attracted enthusiastic interest from performers including Jennifer Reid and the folk group Faustus. Jennifer Reid will be involved in twelve events aimed at the general public and school-age children across the Lancashire region which will promote the database through presentations, vocal and musical performance, and workshops. Faustus will be commissioned to arrange and record material associated with the project in order to promote the database. The project will also be working closely with Lancashire County Council Heritage Learning to promote the database to teachers in the region and train them how to use it. Schoolchildren will be involved in programmes to search for relevant poetry in their local libraries (many local newspaper archives are held on microfilm), and so to contribute directly to the full-text aspect of the database. This process will be managed and edited by the principal investigator.
The website accompanying the database will include contextual information and essays composed by the principal investigator, co-investigator, and postdoctoral researcher which will be open access and directed towards the general public and scholars. The texts that will form the database will also comprise the basis for scholarly output from the principal investigator, co-investigator, and postdoctoral researcher which will be published in academic journals.
Planned Impact
Beneficial impact upon non-academic institutions, groups, and individuals is integral to this project. Those who will benefit will be schools, museums, libraries, local history groups, and members of the general public. A recent day-long workshop related to the project held at Chetham's Library in Manchester established links with several other non-academic institutions and individuals including The People's History Museum, The Elizabeth Gaskell House, The Portico Library (Manchester), The Working Class Movement Library (Salford), Lancashire County Council (Museums, Heritage Learning, and Libraries), Jennifer Reid (Musician, Performer), and Faustus (Traditional Music Group). All of these have agreed to be partners in the project to achieve a high level of public engagement.
The project will achieve impact in non-academic circles in the following ways:
1) The database - This project will create a sustainable, growing repository of material and a focal point for learning and teaching activities. The full-text database of Cotton Famine poetry material will be publically accessible, and the public, through managed research findings, will be able to contribute to it. These contributions could be made by individuals, historical societies, or could be the result of school and college projects which undertake searches of digitised or archived material in Lancashire towns specifically associated with the crisis. There will be close consultation with Lancashire County Council to co-ordinate educational projects across the region. The database will enrich Lancashire's perspective of its cultural heritage through the recovery of a unique poetic testimony, but broader appreciation of the history of global-local economic and cultural dependencies will also be achieved.
2) Public engagement - A series of events will acquaint young people and the general public in Lancashire with the context of the Lancashire Cotton Famine, and introduce them to the poetry that attended it. The events will consist of public talks, performances of recitation and song, and workshops. Whilst the events will have educational and entertainment value, they will also serve to publicise the poetry database in terms of future use, study, and contribution. The principal investigator is part of the University of Exeter's successful bid for inclusion in the November 2016 'Being Human' festival. The event associated with this festival will act as a template for the project events which will be held in association with some of the project partners.
3) Media outputs - The respected traditional music group Faustus, whose previous material is derived almost entirely from historically recovered archives of song and lyric (often from sources including Cecil Sharp House), have agreed to be partners in this project, and will be commissioned to record and perform arrangements of Cotton Famine lyrics sourced from the research associated with the project. In addition to providing soundtracks for audio files included in the database, these recordings could appear on the next Faustus album, and will be used in public events and distributed to the media in order to publicise the database and the wider project. Other project partners including Chetham's Library and Jennifer Reid have already been involved in a BBC Radio Four programme relating to Manchester Ballad broadsheets alongside Eliza McCarthy (see Chetham's letter of support) and pitching for similar media outputs for the current project is in the pipeline.
4) School projects - Lancashire County Council Heritage Learning are planning a series of teacher training exercises associated with the project in order to maximise engagement with the project and the database within the region. The project in principle already has the support of consulted Lancashire teachers who see the benefits of the database as a valuable tool for teaching research methods, history, and literacy.
The project will achieve impact in non-academic circles in the following ways:
1) The database - This project will create a sustainable, growing repository of material and a focal point for learning and teaching activities. The full-text database of Cotton Famine poetry material will be publically accessible, and the public, through managed research findings, will be able to contribute to it. These contributions could be made by individuals, historical societies, or could be the result of school and college projects which undertake searches of digitised or archived material in Lancashire towns specifically associated with the crisis. There will be close consultation with Lancashire County Council to co-ordinate educational projects across the region. The database will enrich Lancashire's perspective of its cultural heritage through the recovery of a unique poetic testimony, but broader appreciation of the history of global-local economic and cultural dependencies will also be achieved.
2) Public engagement - A series of events will acquaint young people and the general public in Lancashire with the context of the Lancashire Cotton Famine, and introduce them to the poetry that attended it. The events will consist of public talks, performances of recitation and song, and workshops. Whilst the events will have educational and entertainment value, they will also serve to publicise the poetry database in terms of future use, study, and contribution. The principal investigator is part of the University of Exeter's successful bid for inclusion in the November 2016 'Being Human' festival. The event associated with this festival will act as a template for the project events which will be held in association with some of the project partners.
3) Media outputs - The respected traditional music group Faustus, whose previous material is derived almost entirely from historically recovered archives of song and lyric (often from sources including Cecil Sharp House), have agreed to be partners in this project, and will be commissioned to record and perform arrangements of Cotton Famine lyrics sourced from the research associated with the project. In addition to providing soundtracks for audio files included in the database, these recordings could appear on the next Faustus album, and will be used in public events and distributed to the media in order to publicise the database and the wider project. Other project partners including Chetham's Library and Jennifer Reid have already been involved in a BBC Radio Four programme relating to Manchester Ballad broadsheets alongside Eliza McCarthy (see Chetham's letter of support) and pitching for similar media outputs for the current project is in the pipeline.
4) School projects - Lancashire County Council Heritage Learning are planning a series of teacher training exercises associated with the project in order to maximise engagement with the project and the database within the region. The project in principle already has the support of consulted Lancashire teachers who see the benefits of the database as a valuable tool for teaching research methods, history, and literacy.
Organisations
- UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (Lead Research Organisation)
- National Trust (Collaboration)
- LANCASHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL (Collaboration)
- Manchester Literature Festival (Collaboration)
- Chetham’s Library (Project Partner)
- Faustus (Project Partner)
- Working Class Movement Library (Project Partner)
- Jennifer Reid (Project Partner)
- Elizabeth Gaskell's House (Project Partner)
- Lancashire County Council (Project Partner)
- The Portico Library (Project Partner)
Publications
Rennie S
(2019)
A working class hero is something to be
in Futurum Careers
Rennie S
(2020)
'This 'Merikay War': Poetic Responses in Lancashire to the American Civil War
in Journal of Victorian Culture
Rennie S
(2022)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Rennie S
(2022)
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature
Rennie S
(2022)
[Re-]forming Cotton Famine Poetry - Some Implications
in Journal of Victorian Culture
Rennie S
(2023)
Roundtable Reflection
in Journal of Victorian Culture
Title | 'After the City' Music CD by Bird in the Belly |
Description | 'After the City' is a music CD released by the respected traditional music group, Bird in the Belly. A member of the group contacted me a year ago and asked if they could adapt two poems for the Cotton Famine poetry database as lyrics for songs. Two tracks on the CD are based on texts first made available to the public through the database. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Impact | Along with the extensive dissemination associated with the work of Faustus, this CD's use of Cotton Famine poetry (attributed in the liner notes) will further increase public knowledge and appreciation of the genre. |
URL | https://www.birdinthebelly.com/ |
Title | 'Cotton Lords' |
Description | This is a setting by the traditional music group, Faustus, of a poem found in a Blackburn newspaper in the summer of 2017. The poem was published in 1864 and is a rare example of popular anger against factories owners during the Lancashire Cotton Famine. The track is now part of Faustus's repertoire and will be played live to thousands of people during their coming tours. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | This composition and recording of this track and others is enabling us to pitch for a programme on national radio based on the research and its outputs. Audiences are now engaging with texts uncovered during the research in a much more concrete way and the eventual creation of a CD of the material will provide a lasting legacy within Faustus's recording history. |
URL | http://cottonfaminepoetry.exeter.ac.uk/2017/11/21/cotton-lords-new-faustus-track/ |
Title | 'The Lancashire Factory Girl' |
Description | This is a setting by the traditional music group Faustus of a text discovered during research for the project which was originally published in 1862 in Burnley. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | This song showcases themes of poverty, war and homelessness central to the project's texts and allows for public engagement with the texts in ways which were previously not accessible. Clips from the song have been played on national radio (BBC Radio Four's Feedback) and it will be played to large audiences across the country and on their upcoming Australian tour. |
URL | http://cottonfaminepoetry.exeter.ac.uk/2018/02/16/the-lancashire-factory-girl-exclusive-new-faustus-... |
Title | Cotton Lords EP CD |
Description | Faustus have released an EP CD containing five tracks adapted from poems discovered during the research for the project. The CD package also contains a booklet written by the Principal Investigator, Dr Simon Rennie, giving a brief history of the Cotton Famine, and detailed commentary on each of the texts the tracks are based on. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | The CD is selling in its hundreds and each person who buys it receives in effect a potted history of the Lancashire Cotton Famine and engages directly with texts discovered during the research. At the time of writing, the CD has only been available for a few weeks but Faustus are currently promoting the CD in Germany and we are seeing considerable interest in the website from that country. There will be an official launch in May with two concerts and media coverage. |
URL | https://faustusfolk.bandcamp.com/ |
Title | Faustus Concert at Manchester Literature Festival |
Description | Faustus played to a sell out audience at Manchester Central Library for the Manchester Literature Festival. The performance mostly consisted of tracks adapted from the texts discovered during the project. PI Simon Rennie gave a short talk before the performance. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | This was a new audience for Faustus and also for the project as the MLF attracts a broad range of participants. Audience members approached the research team afterwards to ask questions. |
URL | http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/events/faustus-38508 |
Title | Faustus and Jennifer Reid at Quarry Bank Mill Museum |
Description | Faustus and Jennifer Reid performed a filmed concert at Quarry Bank Mill Museum in August 2019. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | Documentary film Faustus and the Cotton Famine at Quarry Bank |
Title | Faustus and the Cotton Famine at Quarry Bank |
Description | A documentary film describing the project and Faustus's collaboration with it was filmed at National Trust property Quarry Bank Mill Museum in August 2019. The film was released onto Youtube in December 2019. The film was professionally made by a director, cameraman, and editor who all work extensively for the BBC and featured footage of Faustus playing live songs from the Cotton Lord CD interviews with PI, Paul Sartin of Faustus, and a representative from the National Trust. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | The Youtube version of the film has been viewed almost 500 views. It will continue to be used as a teaching tool and as a reference for the project. |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEV3bFgthyI&t=45s |
Title | Faustus at International Anthony Burgess Foundation |
Description | Faustus performed a concert consisting of songs from the Cotton Lords CD and the PI introduced the performance with a talk. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | Increased public knowledge and engagement. |
Title | Faustus at the Slaughtered Lamb Venue |
Description | Faustus performed a concert consisting of songs from the Cotton Lords CD and the PI introduced the performance with a talk. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | Increased public knowledge and engagement |
Title | Faustus concert at Helmshore Mill Museum February 13th 2019 |
Description | The Faustus concert at Helmshore Mill Museum was held in an authentic industrial environment and was developed in association with Lancashire Museums and Heritage. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | There were several questions from audience members afterwards and some information given emerging from local knowledge which enhanced specific research elements. |
Title | Peformance of musical adaptations at Halsway Manor |
Description | On February 8th 2019 four separate groups performed their musical adaptations of Cotton Famine poetry texts to a live audience at hallway Manor. The groups were workshop participants coached by the folk group Faustus and PI Simon Rennie. Simon Rennie gave a talk before the performance. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | There were approximately 60 audience members who heard about and engaged with the texts probably for the first time. 20 workshop participants engaged deeply with the texts and several have requested further texts in order to engage more. |
Description | Through this award hundreds of poems related to the Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861-65) have been discovered from local newspapers in the region and in different parts of the world. These include dozens of American poems published during the Civil War commenting on Britain's reliance on cotton as a product and its stance in relation to the conflict. Relevant poetry has also been recovered from Irish, French and Australian sources. This has deepened our understanding of the opinions of ordinary people to the global economic crisis caused by the American Civil War, with issues addressed including poverty, hunger, slavery, charity, and international relations. |
Exploitation Route | The subject is now being studied at undergraduate and postgraduate level at several universities including the University of York and Boston College, and is the subject of a PhD project and MA dissertations at Lancaster University and UCLAN. The database has become an influential educational and scholarly resource. The poetry of the Lancashire Cotton Famine project has resulted in considerable press exposure including extensive coverage by The Sunday Times, The Times, The Guardian, and BBC Radio Four's World at One and Feedback programmes. The database, The Poetry of the Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861-65), has been accessed in 59 countries by over 10,000 users to date. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
URL | http://jvc.oup.com/2020/01/31/cotton-famine-poetry/ |
Description | My research has had widespread impact through the AHRC-funded bid I was P-I on from 2017-19. The Cotton Famine poetry database has been used as a teaching tool in schools and HE institutions including York University and Boston College. The database itself has been accessed by over 10,000 users in 59 countries. In 2019 the highly regarded traditional music group Faustus produced a CD (Cotton Lords, Westpark Music) featuring songs adapted from newly-discovered Victorian poems and an explanatory booklet written by me. These songs have been played in concerts in Australia and across Europe and thousands of people have heard of the Lancashire Cotton Famine for the first time and have access to its cultural production directly due to my collaboration with Faustus. The education company, Futurum, produced a teaching pack entitled 'A Working-Class Hero is Something To Be' based on my research in 2019, and this was distributed to schools in Lancashire when the project ran events for pupils. The soft and hard launches of the database attracted considerable media attention in 2019 and 2020, with interviews or features on BBC Radio Four World at One, BBC One Breakfast Show, BBC Radio Lancashire, BBC Radio Manchester, the Sunday Times, the Times, the Guardian, and the Smithsonian Magazine. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
Title | Lancashire Cotton Famine Poetry Database |
Description | The database is open access and contains a fully searchable repository of poem texts from the Lancashire Cotton Famine 1861-65. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This database with its unique research and literary profile has been showcased at the International Digital Humanities Conference in Mexico 2018. It is also being used collaboratively with the University of British Colombia and Exeter Digital Humanities as a research tool for undergraduate students. Third year students at Exeter University have provided detailed commentary for several of the poems on the site, and the successful AHRC bid for the Pistons, Pens, and Press project was inspired partly by the development of this site in order to design their own outputs and research methodology. |
URL | http://cottonfaminepoetry.exeter.ac.uk/ |
Description | Lancashire Museums and Heritage |
Organisation | Lancashire County Council |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The project has provided subject matter for events and workshops enhancing public engagements with intangible cultural heritage. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners have provided venues for events and publicity and staffing. (Helmshore Mill Museum) |
Impact | Faustus Helmshore performance. Faustus/Jennifer Reid schools interactive concert. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Manchester Literature Festival |
Organisation | Manchester Literature Festival |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We provided subject matter for two festival events and links with traditional music group Faustus |
Collaborator Contribution | The Literature festival provided a venue for the Faustus performance at the festival at Manchester Central Library in November 2019. They also provided publicity and staffing for the event. |
Impact | The exposure which the Festival allowed for the project was significant and brought its outcomes to the attention of an informed and engaged public. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | National Trust |
Organisation | National Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | We provided publicity for the Quarry Bank Mill Museum through our documentary film. |
Collaborator Contribution | The National Trust contributed a performance space, staffing, and catering for the day. |
Impact | The documentary film, Faustus and the Cotton Famine at Quarry Bank |
Start Year | 2019 |
Title | Lancashire Cotton Famine Poetry Database |
Description | The Lancashire cotton Famine Poetry database is an open access, fully searchable repository of texts recovered from the research. It contains poems alongside commentary and audio performances, and some educational material. |
Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | In its first year the database had had 8,400 hits and been accessed in many countries across the world including North America, Australia, Germany, and Spain. The site has been used as a teaching tool by schoolteachers in Lancashire after pupils were introduced to the material during a dedicated interactive Faustus concert at Helmshore Mill Museum in Haslingden. Several members of the public have been in touch regarding the site and its content either to express appreciation or in several cases to offer voluntary services to the project in the shape of poem commentary or recitation or musical adaptation of the texts. |
URL | http://cottonfaminepoetry.exeter.ac.uk/ |
Description | Burnley Presentation November 24th 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Project members used local actors to perform Cotton Famine poetry specifically from the town of Burnley in an event at the Central Library there. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Cotton Famine Poetry Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | As part of the Manchester Literature Festival, a workshop was held open to the general public introducing Lancashire Cotton Famine poetry. Exercises were given in the interpretation of the poetry. Members of the University of the Third Age participated and went on to search for the poetry themselves. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/events/finding-the-poetry-of-the-cotton-famine-worksho... |
Description | Database launch event at Portico Library Manchester |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On July 31st 2018 the database was launched and a public event was held at the Portico Library to celebrate it. The event was sold out (it was free but places were limited to just over 100). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Faustus and Jennifer Reid Schools interactive concert at Helmshore Mill Museum February 13th 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | The Faustus and Jennifer Reid Schools interactive concert at Helmshore Mill Museum on February 13th 2019 engaged over 90 schoolchildren with texts from the project. Follow on teaching activities are being carried out using the database. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Halsway Manor Workshops |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | From the 4th to the 8th of February 2019 PI Simon Rennie worked with Faustus to teach 20 workshop participants to adapt Cotton Famine poetry texts to music for performance. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://halswaymanor.org.uk/ |
Description | Interview on BBC Radio Four Feedback Programme |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Simon Rennie and his partner Libby tempest were interviewed on Radio Four's Feedback programme about how the transmission of an edition of the radio programme In Our Time inspired the research which became the Lancashire Cotton Famine poetry project. It was a light-hearted piece but it served to publicise the project and its funders, the AHRC. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09hw97h |
Description | Interview on BBC Radio Four World at One programme |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Interview with Mark Mardell of radio Four's World at One on the project's findings. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bd6yct#playt=00h40m00s |
Description | Interview on BBC Radio Lancashire |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Dr Simon Rennie was interviewed on BBC Radio Lancashire on the morning of January 3rd 2018 in relation to the Lancashire Cotton Famine poetry project. The interview was conducted over the course of approximately 45 minutes of airtime and ranged over the context of the Cotton Famine, the nature of the texts being discovered in local libraries, recitation of some dialect poetry, and a recording of musical performance by the traditional music group, Faustus. There was also an opportunity to publicise an event later that week in Blackburn presenting the material emerging from research to the public. A listener subsequently edited the interview and posted a version of it on Youtube for public record. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbu1uq6PkMM&t=37s |
Description | Interview with Guardian |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | After this article in the Guardian there was international interest in the research, for example, the Smithsonian Magazine, picked up on the story, and a Spanish linguist got in touch to write commentary for the database (the Guardian piece was translated into Spanish). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/09/mill-workers-poems-about-1860s-cotton-famine-rediscove... |
Description | Interview with Sunday Times |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Sunday Times published a half page article based on an interview with PI Simon Rennie |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/williffe-cunliam-lost-victorian-poet-becomes-a-new-literary-star-... |
Description | Journal of Victorian Culture Blogpost |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The PI wrote a blog post to run alongside the publication of his article in the 25.1 issue of the Journal of Victorian Culture. The project provided the image for that edition's journal. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://jvc.oup.com/2020/01/31/cotton-famine-poetry/ |
Description | Presentation at British Association of Victorian Studies Conference August 29 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The PI gave a presentation at British Association of Victorian Studies Conference August 29 2019 in Dundee, Scotland |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://scvs.ac.uk/index.php/bavs-2019/ |
Description | Presentation at SHARP 2019 International Conference in Amherst Massachussets |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This talk in July 2019 was at an international conference and received a lot of Twitter attention subsequently. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.sharpweb.org/main/conferences/ |
Description | Public Talk in Bath |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I gave a talk on the findings of the Lancashire Cotton Famine Poetry project to the southwest branch of the Elizabeth Gaskell Society which was open to the public. There was discussion afterwards, and several audience members pledged to engage with the forthcoming database |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Public event presenting research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | An event presenting poetry written in Blackburn during the Lancashire Cotton Famine was held in a room above a pub in Blackburn in January 2018. The room was full to capacity and the audience were presented to by the researchers Dr Simon Rennie and Dr Ruth Mather, and the balladeer Jennifer Reid. We explained the historical context, talked about how we undertake finding and collecting the poetry, and recited some of it. In addition, there was musical adaptations of the texts by Jennifer Reid and we played recordings of the new musical settings of text discovered during the research by the traditional music group Faustus. The success of this at a local level has inspired us to repeat this kind of targeted local event in several of the towns where we have found poetry. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Research Seminar at Liverpool J0hn Moores University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | This was a research workshop/seminar where members of the Cotton Famine Poetry project presented their findings and discussed their methodology with staff and postgraduate students. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Smithsonian Magazine Article |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Article in the Smithsonian Magazine brought international attention to the project and increased engagement particularly from the public and academia in North America |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hundreds-newly-found-poems-reveal-devastation-uks-cotton-f... |
Description | Talk at Lancashire Local History Federation conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The PI gave a talk on Cotton Famine poetry at the 2019 Lancashire Local History Federation conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.lancashirehistory.org/ |
Description | Talk to South East Branch of Elizabeth Gaskell Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk to South East Branch of Elizabeth Gaskell Society sparked much discussion and engagement. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Teacher Training Event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | On November 6th Dr Simon Rennie, Professor Brian Maidment, and Dr Ruth Mather led a workshop for a group of teachers and librarians from the Lancashire region in order to discuss the logistics of pupil involvement in primary research related to the project as stated in the bid. There was considerable interest but also some resistance in terms of funding and the logistical issue of taking schoolchildren out of school given current educational pressures. However, as a result of the event we are now working with a primary school in Accrington engaging pupils in the search for Lancashire Cotton Famine poetry. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | University of the Third Age Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | On August 22nd 2018 project members ran a University of the Third Age Workshop at Manchester Central Library in order to instruct participants in how to carry out research to find Lancashire Cotton Famine poetry in local libraries. This led to members of the public contributing to direct research findings. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Website with blogs |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Lancashire Cotton Famine poetry project will soon have a database of the poetry discovered during research but for now the public face of this is a website containing a rolling blog. This is used to publicise and report on events, present interesting discoveries to the public, and showcase musical settings of the texts. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://cottonfaminepoetry.exeter.ac.uk/ |